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There are a ton of stories about actors who almost played a character that became wildly famous for some reason or another. Michael Douglas almost played famed explorer Christopher Columbus in a Ridley Scott film. Val Kilmer almost played resistance leader Morpheus in “The Matrix.” And now we have another fun one to add to the mix: gonzo comedian and prankster Eric André was offered the very role that made “Succession” actor Kieran Culkin an Academy Award winner.
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In an interview with comedian Andrew Santino on his Whiskey Ginger podcast, Andre revealed that “A Real Pain” writer and director Jesse Eisenberg had reached out to offer him the role of Benjamin “Benji” Kaplan in his Holocaust tour buddy dramedy. Andre turned it down, and Culkin ultimately tackled the role of the free-spirited but broken-hearted Benji, who is using the trip as a way to say goodbye to his beloved recently deceased grandmother. “A Real Pain” would have been a very different movie with Andre in the Benji role and Culkin gave the performance of a lifetime, so it all worked out for audiences. For Eric André… not so much.
André thought starring in A Real Pain would be a bummer
Culkin gave an amazing, nuanced performance as the grieving Benji in “A Real Pain.” While André is pretty funny, his true dramatic chops have yet to be tested. His version of “A Real Pain” would probably have been wilder, but when the offer came in he just wasn’t interested. As André explained on the podcast:
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“Jesse Eisenberg calls me. Offered me the role that Kieran Culkin got the Oscar for. I was like, that seems really miserable and not in my lane. I read the script. I was like, to go to Poland for six weeks and shoot a movie where we’re just babbling about the Holocaust seems like a bummer […] I was like, ‘Appreciate the offer, sure it’s gonna be great, I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for right now.’ The motherf***** won an Oscar for the role I passed up.”
André went on to note that he doesn’t get offered roles very often, so the whole thing was kind of a shock from top to bottom. He also really isn’t wrong about the film being outside of his lane, though it definitely would have been interesting to see him try and tackle such heavy material. He’s willing to go through a lot of misery and torture his guests on his insane Adult Swim talk show “The Eric Andre Show,” but it seems that a six week Holocaust tour/film shoot in Poland was just a little too much misery for him to bear.
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